Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on HFWA. Stephens boosted their target price on Heritage Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

Heritage Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HFWA opened at $25.55 on Monday. Heritage Financial has a 52 week low of $16.55 and a 52 week high of $27.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.33. The company has a market cap of $872.53 million, a P/E ratio of 23.66 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.06. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 12.27%. Research analysts predict that Heritage Financial will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Heritage Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. This is an increase from Heritage Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.19%.

Insider Activity at Heritage Financial

In other news, EVP Tony Chalfant sold 2,975 shares of Heritage Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $78,837.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,153.50. The trade was a 12.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frederick B. Rivera sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.43, for a total value of $101,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,752.92. This trade represents a 50.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Heritage Financial by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,206,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,066,000 after purchasing an additional 465,708 shares during the period. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Heritage Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $215,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Heritage Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,684,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Heritage Financial by 105.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after acquiring an additional 37,606 shares during the period. 78.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Heritage Financial Company Profile

Heritage Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Heritage Bank that provides various financial services to small and medium sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest demand deposits, interest bearing demand deposits, money market accounts, savings accounts, personal checking accounts, and certificates of deposit.